Method and system for providing enhanced call waiting

ABSTRACT

A method and system are disclosed for providing an enhanced call waiting message to a customer when the customer is busy on a previous call and receives a current call. The call waiting message preferably includes a call waiting indicator and an audible representation of information associated with a current calling party. The call waiting message alerts the customer that a current call is waiting and provides the customer with information that assists the customer in deciding whether or not to take the current call. The call waiting indicator and the information associated with a current calling party are automatically transmitted to the customer without any customer commands.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates generally to telecommunications callprocessing and more particularly to call waiting service features.

Call waiting services are offered by numerous service providers and arewell known by those skilled in the art. Call waiting services generallynotify a customer that is busy on a previous call that a current callhas been placed to the customer. Call waiting services commonly utilizean audible tone that is transmitted to the customer, to notify thecustomer that the current call is waiting. When the customer is notifiedthat the current call is waiting, the customer can decide whether or notto suspend the previous call to take the current call. Accordingly,information about the current call aids in the customer's decision. U.S.Pat. No. 4,899,358 describes a system that provides an audiblerepresentation of the calling party's name to notify a customer that acall is waiting. This system substitutes the name in place of the tonecommonly used to notify the customer. While substitution of the name inplace of the tone provides the customer with additional information,delivering information in this format can result in confusion for thecustomer. For example, providing just the name of a caller can beconfusing when the name is interjected in the middle of a conversationwithout warning.

Other systems provide additional information to the customer in varyingformats. U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,512 describes a system that first providesa tone to indicate that a current call is waiting and then waits for acommand from the customer. This system only provides the name of thecalling party after receiving the command. To provide the requiredcommand, the customer completes a flash hook at his telephone station.The flash hook puts the previous caller on hold for a significant amountof time while the customer hears the name of the current caller and thendecides whether or not to take the current call. Providing informationin this format also creates additional problems for the customer. Forexample, the customer is not immediately provided with the informationnecessary to decide whether or not to take the current call. Thisresults in an inconvenience for the both the previous caller and thecustomer, especially if the customer ultimately decides not to take thecurrent call and returns to the previous call after a significant delayin the call.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for processing a telephone call ofa preferred embodiment.

FIG. 2 is more detailed block diagram of the system depicted in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an alternate embodiment of the system depicted in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a method for processing a telephone call of apreferred embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a more detailed flow chart of the method depicted in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a more detailed flow chart of the method depicted in FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a more detailed flow chart of the method depicted in FIG. 4.

FIG. 8 is a more detailed flow chart of the method depicted in FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

By way of example, FIG. 1 depicts a system 10 of a preferred embodiment.The system 10 comprises a network 20, a called communication station 30connected with the network 20 and a calling communication station 40connected with the network 20. The network 20 preferably comprises:means for determining whether the called communication station is busy22, means for obtaining information associated with the callingcommunication station 24; means for transmitting the informationassociated with the calling communication station to the calledcommunication station 26; and means for transmitting a call waitingindicator to the called communication station 28.

The system 10 is preferably implemented in a telecommunications networkas known by those skilled in the art. Alternatively, the system 10 canbe implemented in computer network or any other network that is adaptedto store and retrieve information. Each of the means 22, 24, 26, 28described above is preferably implemented through the use of computerreadable program code written in any suitable programming language andimplemented on an analog or digital computer utilizing any suitableoperating system as known by those skilled in the art. Alternatively,each of the means 22, 24, 26, 28 can be implemented through the use ofhardware in the form of a hardwired computer, an integrated circuit, ora combination of hardware and computer readable program code as known bythose skilled in the art. The calling communication station 40 and thecalled communication station 30 preferably comprise an analog telephonestation as known by those skilled in the art. According to analternative embodiment, the communication stations 30, 40 can compriseany suitable communication station adapted for use in the presentembodiments as known by those skilled in the art.

The system 10 enables a customer at the called communication station 30,who is busy on a previous call, to be efficiently and effectivelynotified that a current call from calling communication station 40 iswaiting. The system 10 provides an enhanced call waiting message thatincludes both the call waiting indicator and the audible representationof information associated with the calling communication station 40. Thecall waiting indicator and the audible representation of informationassociated with the calling communication station can be automaticallytransmitted to the called communication station 30 prior to any commandsfrom the customer. The combination of the call waiting indicator and theinformation associated with the calling communication station alerts thecustomer that the current call is waiting and provides the customer withinformation that assists the customer in deciding whether to take thecurrent call.

By way of further example, FIG. 2 depicts a preferred embodiment of thesystem described above. The system 110 comprises a service switchingpoint (SSP) 120, a service control point (SCP) 150, an SCP database 152,a service node (SN) 160, a database 162, central offices 130, 140 andtelephone stations 122, 132, 142. Intelligent network system components,commonly referred to as advanced intelligent network (AIN) components,suitable for implementing the present embodiment are commerciallyavailable from Lucent Technologies and are well know by those skilled inthe art. AIN components can implement computer readable program code asknown by those skilled in the art. Vendors of AIN components typicallyhave a preferred programming language and operating platform as known bythose skilled in the art.

SSP 120 preferably comprises an AIN switch that routes calls, generatesqueries to SCP 150 to obtain call control information and responds tocall control information. SSP 120 connects called telephone station 122with central offices 130, 140 to enable a customer at called telephonestation 122 to place calls to and receive calls from telephone stations132, 142. SSP 120 preferably communicates with SCP 150, central offices130, 140, and SN 160 in accordance with a signaling protocol such asSignaling System 7 (SS7) or other such signaling protocols as known bythose skilled in the art.

SCP 150 preferably comprises an AIN element that stores call controlinformation in SCP database 152 and accesses the stored call controlinformation. SCP 150 receives queries generated by SSP 120 andpreferably responds to the queries by performing database searches tolocate the requested call control information. SCP 150 can forward thelocated call control information to SSP 120. SCP 150 preferablycomprises an AIN element as well known by those skilled in the art.

SN 160 preferably comprises a network element that stores call controlinformation and performs call related functions as known by thoseskilled in the art. SN 160 receives calls forwarded from SSP 120,performs searches or other requested functions and returns informationor data to SSP 120. In an alternate embodiment, SN 160 can be configuredto produce call waiting indicators as described herein. SN 160preferably includes a text to speech module 164 that performs text tospeech conversions to produce an audible representation of the text.Such modules and conversions are well known by those skilled in the art.

Database 152 preferably comprises a data storage element for use withSCP 150 as well known by those skilled in the art. Database 152preferably stores call control information that can be implemented bySSP 120 to control calls. Such call control information is well known bythose skilled in the art.

Database 162 preferably comprises a caller identification with namedatabase as known by those skilled in the art. Database 162 preferablystores information associated with a telephone number that is associatedwith calling telephone station 142. The information associated with thetelephone number preferably comprises the identity of a caller in theform of the caller's name. Alternatively, the information associatedwith the telephone number can comprise the identity of a caller in theform of the caller's name and the telephone number for calling telephonestation 142. The telephone number preferably comprises a 10 digittelephone number as known by those skilled in the art but can alsocomprise any type of identification format used to identify telephonestations. Database 162 can alternatively comprise a caller assistancedatabase as known by those skilled in the art. While database 162 isdepicted within a telecommunications system, database 162 can compriseany suitable database containing information adapted for use in thepresent embodiment and is not limited to databases located within atelecommunications network.

Central offices 140, 150 preferably comprise AIN network switches aswell known by those skilled in the art. Central offices 140, 150comprise network switches that connect telephone stations 132, 142 withSSP 120 to enable callers at telephone stations 132, 142 to place callsto and receive calls from the customer at called telephone station 122.Alternatively, central offices 140, 150 can comprise non-AIN networkswitches as known by those skilled in the art.

Telephone stations 122, 132, 142 preferably comprise analog telephonesets as known by those skilled in the art. Alternatively, telephonestations 122, 132, 142 can comprise wireless, PCN, ISDN or any otherform of communication station known by those skilled in the art.

Referring now to FIG. 3, an alternate embodiment of the system of FIG. 2is shown. The system 180 comprises: an SSP 120; a called telephonestation 122; central offices 130, 140; a telephone station 132; acalling telephone station 142; an SCP 150; an SCP database 152; adatabase 162; and a text-to-speech module 164 all as described above inreference to FIG. 2. The system also includes an intelligent peripheral(IP) 161 that communicates with SSP 120, database 162 and test-to-speechmodule 164 and performs the same functions as the SN 160 as describedherein. The IP 161 preferably comprises an AIN element that acts oninstructions from SCP 120. In an alternate embodiment, IP 161 can beconfigured to generate call waiting indicators as described herein.

The systems depicted in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 can be utilized to implementthe method 200 depicted in FIG. 4. For purposes of illustration, assumethat a customer at called telephone station 122 (FIGS. 2, 3) is on aprevious call with a previous calling party at telephone station 132.Connections are established between: telephone station 132 and centraloffice 130; central office 130 and SSP 120; and SSP 120 and calledtelephone station 122; to enable the previous call to be connected.Also, assume that after the previous call has been commenced, a currentcalling party at calling telephone station 142 places a current call tothe customer at called telephone station 122. In an attempt to connectthe current call, central office 140 routes the current call to SSP 120.

The method 200 of processing a current call from a calling telephonestation 142 (FIGS. 2, 3) to a called telephone station 122 generallyincludes the steps of: determining whether the called telephone stationis busy on a previous call (step 210, FIG. 4); obtaining informationassociated with the calling telephone station (step 220); transmitting acall waiting indicator to the called telephone station 122 to signifythat the current call is waiting (step 250); and automaticallytransmitting the information associated with the calling telephonestation (step 270) to the called telephone station 122. Each of thesesteps is discussed in more detail below.

The step of determining whether the called telephone station is busy ona previous call (step 210, FIG. 4), preferably comprises the followingsteps as depicted in FIG. 5. SSP 120 receives the current call (step212, FIG. 5) and attempts to terminate the call to called telephonestation 122 (step 214). Because the customer at called telephone station122 is busy on a previous call, the current call cannot be terminated tocalled telephone station 122 and SSP 120 determines that the customer atcalled telephone station 122 is busy on a previous call.

The step of obtaining information associated with the calling telephonestation (step 220, FIG. 4) preferably comprises the following steps asdepicted in FIG. 6. When SSP 120 determines that the customer at calledtelephone station 122 is busy on a previous call, SSP 120 generates aquery to SCP 150 (step 222, FIG. 6) in accordance with a call forward onbusy feature, or other similar function, to obtain call controlinformation from SCP 150. Call forward on busy features and othersimilar functions are well known by those skilled in the art. The callcontrol information instructs SSP 120 where to route the current callwhen called telephone station 122 is busy. After receiving the queryfrom SSP 120, SCP 150 identifies the relevant call control information(step 224) and forwards it to SSP 120 (step 226). The relevant callcontrol information has been created to enable SSP 120 to forward thecurrent call to SN 160 or IP 161 when called telephone station 122 isbusy. In accordance with the call control information, SSP 120 routesthe current call to SN 160 or IP 161 (step 228). SN 160 or IP 161examines the telephone number associated with calling telephone station142 and identifies information corresponding to the telephone number byperforming a database search (step 230). The information correspondingto the telephone number preferably comprises the identity of the currentcaller at calling telephone station 142 in the form of the name of thecurrent caller. Database 162 preferably comprises a calleridentification with name database as known by those skilled in the art.Alternatively, the database 162 can comprise a caller assistancedatabase as known by those skilled in the art.

In accordance with an alternative embodiment, the step of obtaininginformation associated with the calling telephone station 142 (step 220,FIG. 4) further comprises the following steps as depicted in FIG. 7. IfSN 160 or IP 161 cannot identify and return information associated withthe telephone number, SSP 120 generates a query to SCP 150 (step 232,FIG. 7) requesting further call control information. SCP 150 locates andreturns call control information to SSP 120 (step 234) that enables thecreation of audible caller input directions that direct the callingparty at calling telephone station 142 speak his or her name. SSP 120transmits the caller input directions to calling telephone station 142(step 236). When the calling party speaks their name, the spoken name isdigitized and recorded by SN 160 or IP 161 (step 238). The recorded namecan be played back to the customer at called telephone station 122through the use of the speech processing capabilities of SN 160 or IP161. SN 160 or IP 161 preferably provides the recorded name to thecalled telephone station 122 between the call waiting indicators asdescribed herein.

According to an alternative of the above embodiment, when the caller atcalling telephone station 142 speaks his or her name, the spoken namecan be directly provided to the customer at called telephone station 122through central office 140 and SSP 120. The name is preferably providedbetween the call waiting indicators as described herein.

In accordance with a further alternative embodiment, the step ofobtaining information associated with the calling telephone station(step 220, FIG. 4) further comprises the following steps. When the userinput directions, as described above, are transmitted to callingtelephone station 142 (step 236, FIG. 7), additional user inputinstructions can be transmitted to calling telephone station 142. Theadditional user input instructions can request the calling party toprovide additional information relating to the handling of and/or thecontent of the information associated with the calling telephone station142. These directions preferably include requests for information fromthe calling party regarding the priority of the message to be deliveredto called telephone station 122. For example, if the caller believesthat the message is urgent, the caller may enter appropriateinstructions that enable the SN 160 or IP 161 to generate standard orcustomized messages that are included in the information associated withcalling telephone station 142 that is transmitted to called telephonestation 122 (step 270, FIG. 4). The user can, for example, utilize adual-tone-multi-frequency (DTMF) signal to provide information as knownby those skilled in the art. This alternative can be implemented inconjunction with the methods depicted in FIGS. 6 and 7 and describedherein.

In accordance with a further alternative embodiment, the step ofobtaining information associated with calling telephone station 142(step 206, FIG. 4) further comprises the following steps. When SSP 120determines that called telephone station 122 is busy and generates aquery to SCP 150 requesting call control information, SCP 150 identifiesand returns call control information to SSP 120. The call controlinformation directs SSP 120 to generate instructions that ask thecalling party at calling telephone station 142 to speak his or her name.The instructions are sent to a caller at calling telephone station 142without attempting to locate a name associated with the telephone numberin a database. The spoken name can be recorded or delivered as describedabove.

According to a preferred embodiment as depicted in FIG. 8, SSP 120preferably generates the call waiting indicator comprising a tone orother similar indicator that is transmitted to called telephone station122 to signify the start of the call waiting message (step 252, FIG. 8).The call path of the previous call is temporarily interrupted totemporarily place the previous call on hold (step 254) while the SN 160or IP 161 automatically transmits an audible representation of the nameassociated with a caller at calling telephone station 142 to calledtelephone station 122 (step 256). SN 160 or IP 161 implements the textto speech module 164 to generate an audible representation of the nameassociated with calling telephone station 142. The audiblerepresentation of the name is preferably transmitted to called telephonestation 122 within a predetermined amount of time after the call waitingindicator is transmitted. The previous call is restored after the namehas been transmitted to called telephone station 122 (step 258). SSP 120preferably generates a second call waiting indicator comprising a toneor other similar indicator that is sent to called telephone station 122(step 260). The second call waiting indicator is preferably transmittedto called telephone station 122 within a predetermined amount of timeafter the name is transmitted. According to an alternative embodiment,the steps of transmitting a call waiting indicator (step 250, FIG. 4,steps 252, 260, FIG. 8) comprise transmitting a plurality of tones tocalled telephone station 122. According to a further alternativeembodiment, the call waiting indicators are generated by SN 160 or IP161 and transmitted to called telephone station 122.

According to an alternate embodiment, the information associated withcalling telephone station 142, described in conjunction with FIGS. 4, 5,6, 7 and 8 comprises the identity of a caller at calling telephonestation 142 and the telephone number associated with calling telephonestation 142.

The present embodiments provide an efficient and effect method andsystem for providing an audible call waiting notification to a customerwho is busy on a previous call. The present embodiments notify thecustomer that a current call is waiting in an effective manner thatreduces confusion. Confusion is reduced by the combination of audiblecall waiting indicators and an audible representation of informationassociated with the calling telephone station. Additionally, both theindicator and the representation of the information can be providedautomatically without significant delay and without any input from thecaller.

It is to be understood that a wide range of changes and modifications tothe embodiments described above will be apparent to those skilled in theart and are contemplated. It is therefore intended that the foregoingdetailed description be regarded as illustrative rather than limiting,and that it be understood that it is the following claims, including allequivalents, that are intended to define the spirit and scope of theinvention.

1. A method for providing information about a calling party to a calledparty, the method comprising: (a) obtaining information about thecalling party, using a service node, when the called party's telephoneline is busy; (b) notifying the called party that the calling party isattempting to contact the called party; and (c) transmitting an audibleversion the information about the calling party to the called party,using a service node, without receiving an input from the called party.2. The method of claim 1, wherein (a) comprises obtaining an identity ofthe calling party.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein (a) comprisesobtaining an identity of the calling party and a telephone number of thecalling party.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein (b) comprisestransmitting an audible call waiting indicator to the called party. 5.The method of claim 1, wherein (b) comprises transmitting a single callwaiting tone to the called party.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein (b)comprises transmitting a plurality of call waiting tones to the calledparty.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein (b) comprises transmitting atleast one call waiting tone preceding the information about the callingparty and transmitting at least one call waiting tone following theinformation about the calling party.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein(c) comprises transmitting an audible version of an identity of thecalling party to the called party.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein (c)comprises transmitting an audible version of an identity of the callingparty and a telephone number of the calling party to the called party.10. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether thecalled party's telephone line is busy prior to (a).
 11. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising connecting the called party and the callingparty after the called party has indicated that they would like to beconnected to the calling party.
 12. A method for providing informationabout a calling party to a called party, the method comprising: (a)obtaining information about the calling party, using an intelligentperipheral, when the called party's telephone line is busy; (b)notifying the called party that the calling party is attempting tocontact the called party; and (c) transmitting an audible version theinformation about the calling party to the called party, using anintelligent peripheral, without receiving an input from the calledparty.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein (a) comprises obtaining anidentity of the calling party.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein (a)comprises obtaining an identity of the calling party and a telephonenumber of the calling party.
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein (b)comprises transmitting an audible call waiting indicator to the calledparty.
 16. The method of claim 1, wherein (b) comprises transmitting asingle call waiting tone to the called party.
 17. The method of claim 1,wherein (b) comprises transmitting a plurality of call waiting tones tothe called party.
 18. The method of claim 1, wherein (b) comprisestransmitting at least one call waiting tone preceding the informationabout the calling party and transmitting at least one call waiting tonefollowing the information about the calling party.
 19. The method ofclaim 1, wherein (c) comprises transmitting an audible version of anidentity of the calling party to the called party.
 20. The method ofclaim 1, wherein (c) comprises transmitting an audible version of anidentity of the calling party and a telephone number of the callingparty to the called party.
 21. The method of claim 1, further comprisingdetermining whether the called party's telephone line is busy prior to(a).
 22. The method of claim 1, further comprising connecting the calledparty and the calling party after the called party has indicated thatthey would like to be connected to the calling party.